Athletics
Athletics encompasses a broad category of physical training, from rock climbing to professional sports such as football. The Athletics Skill can be applied to any action that requires prolonged physical exertion or that demands considerable agility or handeye coordination. Specialties Acrobatics, Climbing, Long-Distance Running, Sprinting, Swimming, Throwing ---Climbing , Dice Pool Strength + Athletics Action Instant or extended (one success is required per 10 feet of height; in an extended task each roll represents one minute of climbing). ---Running , Dice Pool Stamina + Athletics A chase is a matter of endurance, reflexes and fleetness of foot. Roll Stamina + Athletics for each participant. This is not quite the conventional extended and contested task, however. Rolls are made for each participant in each stage (in each turn), but the quarry has a different goal than the pursuer. The number of successes that must be acquired for the quarry equals the pursuer's Speed. So, if the pursuer has a Speed of 12, successes accumulated for the quarry must reach 12 for him to get away. The pursuer, however, does not seek to get away. His goal is much more specific to stop the quarry from escaping. The number of successes that the pursuer needs is therefore different. He seeks to tally a number that equals or exceeds the quarry's current total of successes at any point in the chase. If the pursuer gets that number, he catches up. The Speed trait of quarry and pursuer is also a factor in determining who is likely to get away or be caught. A human adult isn't likely to catch a cheetah, for example, but a cheetah can probably catch a human adult. For every three points of difference between competitors' Speed traits, the faster one gets a +1 bonus on chase rolls. Remainders are rounded down. So, if a pursuer has a Speed of 11 and a quarry has a Speed of 8, rolls made for the pursuer get a +1 bonus. If a pursuer has a Speed of 10 and a quarry has a Speed of 11, neither party gets a bonus (the difference between Speed traits is less than three and is rounded down). If the quarry of a chase has a head start, she gets a number of automatic successes at the beginning of the chase. Any successes rolled for her throughout the extended and contested task are added to that number from turn to turn, giving the quarry an advantage throughout. As a rule of thumb, a 10-yard head start is worth one automatic success. The actual distance between quarry and pursuer at any point in a chase is based on the difference of total successes between them. Each success is worth about 10 yards. If a pursuer's total successes ever equal or exceed a quarry's in any given turn, the pursuer catches up. The race comes to an end. The pursuer is allowed one free action against the quarry, such as a charge maneuver. ---Jumping Dice Pool Strength + Athletics A character can jump one foot vertically for each success gained on a jumping roll. In a standing broad jump, a character can cross two feet per success rolled. In a running jump, a character can cross a number of feet equal to her Size + four more feet per success rolled. So, if a person who's Size 5 gets three successes in a running jump, she travels 17 feet. In order to make a running jump, a character must be able to run a distance of at least 10 feet. If space is limited, every two feet (rounding up) short of 10 imposes a -1 penalty on the Strength + Athletics roll. So, if a character who wants to make jump needs at least 10 feet in which to get a running start, but she has only five feet with which to work, the roll suffers a -3 penalty. ---Throwing Dice Pool Agility + Athletics Throwing an object can be a brute-force physical act or a combination of grace and hand-eye coordination to hit a distant target. Your character can throw a non-aerodynamic object (such as a clay pot or tire) a distance in yards equal to his Strength + Dexterity + Athletics, minus the object's Size. The result is considered short range. Medium range is double that number, and long range is twice medium range. So, a character with 4 Strength, 3 Dexterity and 2 Athletics can throw a tire with 2 Size a short range of seven yards, a medium range of 14 yards and a long range of 28 yards. Aerodynamic objects such as footballs and spears can be thrown double those distances. Thus, the same character who throws a football (Size 1) has a short range of 16 yards, a medium range of 32 yards and a long range of 64 yards. An object with a Size that equals or exceeds your character's Strength simply can't be thrown far enough to constitute range, even if it's an aerodynamic item. It's simply too heavy or bulky to be thrown. While the distance that an item can be thrown is relatively fixed, your character's accuracy is rolled Dexterity + Athletics + equipment. Weapons such as knives, spears and rocks, however, confer their Damage ratings as bonuses when thrown. Mundane items such as baseballs or footballs can be thrown to hit and hurt (probably unsuspecting) targets, too. These items typically confer a +1 bonus and do bashing damage. Modifiers to hit targets are -2 at medium and -4 at long range. By no means is long range the limit to which an item can be hurled. Your character could throw it with everything he has and achieve greater distance up to twice long range. Accuracy is forgone, though. If your character tries to throw an object at a target beyond long range, he can still make the attempt. Make a chance roll to determine success, regardless of what your character's dice pool might normally be. Any target that's more than double long range away is considered completely out of range and no throw can hit it.